That's a hell of a deal for a 4K monitor, especially one capable of 60 Hz (likely through MST)! Worth noting is that the monitor is a TN panel so picture quality won't be as good as the IPS options still selling for over $2500, like the ASUS PQ321Q we reviewed previously.

The panel has a pair of HDMI inputs but both are listed as only supporting 30 Hz 3840x2160 resolutions without any mention of using them both simultaneously.

Today, Oculus VR issued a statement which claims that Michael Abrash has joined their ranks as Chief Scientist. Abrash was hired by Valve in 2011 where he led, and apparently came up with the idea for, their wearable computing initiatives. For a time, he and Jeri Ellsworth were conducting similar projects until she, and many others, were forced out of the company for undisclosed reasons (she was allowed to take her project with her which ultimately became CastAR). While I have yet to see an official announcement claim that Abrash has left Valve, I have serious doubts that he would be employed in both places for any reasonable period of time. With both gone, I wonder about Valve's wearable initaitive going forward.

Abrash at Steam Dev Days

This press statement comes just three days after Facebook announced "definitive" plans to acquire Oculus VR for an equivalent of $2 billion USD (it is twice the company Instragram was). Apparently, the financial stability of Facebook (... deep breath before continuing...) was the catalyst for this decision. VR research is expensive. Abrash is now comfortable working with them, gleefully expending R&D funds, advancing the project without sinking the ship.

And then there's Valve.

On last night's This Week in Computer Hardware (#260), Patrick Norton and I were discussing the Oculus VR acquisition. He claimed that he had serious doubts about whether Valve ever intended to ship a product. So far, the only product available that uses Valve's research is the Oculus Rift DK2. Honestly, while I have not really thought about it until now, it would not be surprising for Valve to contribute to the PC platform itself.

Last month, we published a news piece stating that Oculus Rift production has been suspended as "certain components" were unavailable. At the time, the company said they are looking for alternate suppliers but do not know how long that will take. The speculation was that the company was simply readying a new version and did not want to cannibalize their sales.

DK2, as it is called, integrates a pair of 960x1080 OLED displays (correction, March 22nd @ 3:15pm: It is technically a single 1080p display that is divided per eye) for higher resolution and lower persistence. Citing Valve's VR research, they claim that the low persistence will reduce motion blur as your eye blends neighboring frames together. In this design, it flickers the image for a short period before going black, and does this at a high enough rate keep your eye fed with light. The higher resolution also prevents the "screen door effect" complained about by the first release. Like their "Crystal Cove" prototype, it also uses an external camera to reduce latency in detecting your movement. All of these should combine to less motion sickness.

I would expect that VR has a long road ahead of it before it becomes a commercial product for the general population, though. There are many legitimate concerns about leaving your users trapped in a sensory deprivation apparatus when Kinect could not even go a couple of days without someone pretending to play volleyball and wrecking their TV with ceiling fan fragments. Still, this company seems to be doing it intelligently: keep afloat on developers and lead users as you work through your prototypes. It is cool, even if it will get significantly better, and people will support its research while getting the best at the time.

DK2 is available for pre-order for $350 and is expected to ship in July.

NVIDIA's new G-Sync variable refresh rate technology is slowly being rolled out to consumers in the form of new monitors and DIY upgrade kits that can be used to add G-Sync functionality to existing displays. The first G-Sync capable monitor to support the DIY upgrade kit path is the ASUS VG248QE which is a 24" 1080p 144Hz TN panel. The monitor itself costs around $270 and the you can now purchase a G-Sync DIY upgrade kit from NVIDIA for $199.

The upgrade kit comes with a replacement controller board, power supply, HDMI cable, plastic spudger, IO shields, and installation instructions. Users will need to take apart the VG248QE monitor, remove the old PCBs and install the G-Sync board in its place. According to NVIDIA the entire process takes about 30 minutes though if this is your first time digging into monitor internals it will likely take closer to an hour to install.

The NVIDIA G-Sync DIY kit below the ASUS VG248QE monitor.

For help with installation, NVIDIA has posted a video of the installation process on YouTube. If you find text and photos easier, you can follow the installation guides written up for PC Perspective by Allyn Malventano and reader Levi Kendall. Both DIY kit reviews stated that the process, while a bit involved, was possible for most gamers to perform with a bit of guidance.

Alternatively, ASUS is also releasing an updated version of the VG248QE monitor with the G-Sync board pre-installed in the first half of this year. This updated G-Sync monitor will have an MSRP of $399.

With the G-Sync kit at $199, will you be going the DIY path or waiting for a new monitor with the technology pre-installed?

But at the NVIDIA booth at CES this year the company was truly showing off G-Sync technology to its fullest capability. By taking the 3840x2160 ASUS PQ321Q monitor and modifying it with the same G-Sync module technology we were able to see variable refresh rate support in 4K glory.

Obviously you can't see much from the photo above about the smoothness of the animation, but I can assure you that in person this looks incredible. In fact, 4K might be the perfect resolution for G-Sync to shine as running games at that high of a resolution will definitely bring your system to its knees, dipping below that magical 60 Hz / FPS rate. But when it does with this modified panel, you'll still get smooth game play and a a tear-free visual experience.

Graphic artists won't feel left out at CES with the new 4K 28" PhilipsUltraClear Display that was just announced. This is not a gaming monitor but a full 10-bit colour display at a 4K resolution which will be wonderful to create content on.

LAS VEGAS - Jan. 6, 2014 - The PhilipsUltraClear Display debuts today, combining 4K UHD high resolution with a color depth of 1.07 billion colors to deliver brilliant performance, screen clarity and detail with four times the resolution of Full HD. Whether you require extremely detailed information for CAD-CAM solutions, use 3D graphic applications or are a financial wizard working on huge spreadsheets, this Philips display will provide UltraClear 3840x2160 pixel images to meet the visual demands of the most sophisticated power user. The 28-inch monitor (model 288P6) is also ideal for those seeking superb onscreen clarity and color accuracy for personal applications, and includes built-in stereo speakers for multimedia and MHL technology for easy mobile device connectivity.

Designed with the user in mind, the PhilipsUltraClear Display provides a plethora of connectivity options and comes equipped with HDMI, DisplayPort, Dual-link DVI and VGA SmartConnect ports, enabling the enjoyment of high resolution uncompressed video and audio content. USB 3.0 ensures super speed data transfers and smartphone charging while having global connectivity. Additionally, an integrated MHL port allows users to connect compatible phones and tablets directly to the monitor to mirror content to the widescreen display while charging the mobile device at the same time.

The Philips UltraClear Display also features MultiView functionality. This technology enables active dual connect and view so that users can work with multiple devices like PC and laptop side-by-side simultaneously, making complex multi-tasking work a breeze. With the Ultra HD Philips MultiView display, you can now experience a world of connectivity in a comfortable way whether at office or at home.

Another people-friendly feature is the advanced SmartErgoBase, which allows the monitor to be lowered down almost to desk level for a comfortable viewing angle. Low bezel-to-table height is the perfect solution for those who use bifocals, trifocals or progressive lens glasses for computing work. Additionally, the adjustable base allows for users of greatly different heights to use the monitor in their preferred angle and height settings, helping them reduce fatigue and strain. The SmartErgoBase’s height, swivel, tilt and rotation angle adjustments position the monitor for maximum comfort, while its cable management function reduces cable clutter and keeps the workspace neat and professional.

This one has nothing to do with 4K or G-Sync. This is a relatively tiny DLP projector with a built-in rechargeable battery. It is designed to be portable and even connect to MHL-compliant tablets and smartphones. The enclosed battery is expected to last three hours on a single charge or, if using the phone has more need for power than the projector, it can charge your mobile device from its battery.

The projector is capable of producing a 41-inch image with only 3 feet of throw distance. It also has an integrated speaker. The SBW-S1 Blu-Ray drive is a companion product to playback high-definition optical disks with the projector (and maybe other devices?). It includes a Xonar sound card and headphone amplifier although I am not sure the use case for a playing Blu-Rays on a 41-inch projector wearing headphones.

The S1 Projector has an MSRP of $319. No availability information yet. Also, no pricing or availability on the Blu-ray drive, either.

Another G-Sync panel has been announced at CES. This one is not a standard 1080p panel, which is promising, rather a bump in resolution to WQHD 2560x1440 while still reaching "120+ Hz". It is still based on TN pixels but the resolution is different so at least that is progress. Perhaps we will see some IPS (or similar) displays later? Hopefully? I'm serious, I do not have inside information.

The SWIFT PG278Q is 27-inch with a narrow (6mm) bezel. The stand allows for tilt, swivel, height, and pivot adjustments which could be useful if you want to present portrait images or handle long documents. That said, I was really looking forward to pivot when I purchased my most recent monitor (last year) and eventually found that it was more convenient to use two documents side-by-side with Aero snap.

One feature that ASUS added to the panel was "GamePlus" which would probably not be the best to use in a LAN party. It enables custom crosshairs and timers on screen. I am sure that someone will interpret that as cheating (especially for games which disable crosshairs such as Battlefield 4 "hardcore"). They claim it is a practice tool, which I will accept, just use it in public at your own risk.

"The PB287Q is a brand-new 28” 4K/UHD monitor from ASUS. With a native resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, PB287Q displays four times (4X) as many pixels as existing the Full HD standard - that’s over 8-million pixels for truly astonishing detail. The ASUS PB287Q is also easy on the eyes for both graphics and text with impressive scrolling and 1ms response times.
ASUS has added some exclusive technologies to PB287Q, including updating Splendid Plus to eliminate only the blue component of light from the panel backlight. This reduces eyestrain and ASUS Flicker-free technology ensures razor-sharp and stable images at all times.
PB287Q features extensive connectivity, including HDMI and HDMI/MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link) connectors and native DisplayPort for true 4K/UHD content support. The new display also has an attractive ergonomic design with a slim profile and a full range of swivel, tilt, pivot and height adjustments to guarantee viewer comfort."

One of the big questions we had leading into CES was exactly how many G-Sync panels we would see. If several monitor developers sign on then we would assume that it has a bright future. If we can count the number of models on one hand (and all of them 1080p TN-based panels) then we would have serious doubts.

Philips has just contributed a monitor to the mix: the 272G5DYEB; however, it is a 27-inch 1080p panel based on TN technology. It is capable of 144 Hz refresh rate and will be available in Spring. Its only input is DisplayPort as is common with G-Sync. There is not too much different about this panel compared to the ASUS version which has recently been made available. Hopefully this will be one of many announcements.

The Philips 27" Gaming Monitor with G-SYNC (272G5DYEB) will be available in Spring 2014 for $649 USD.

Editor's Note: Late last December NVIDIA gave us the opportunity to hand out 5 of the NVIDIA G-Sync upgrade kits for the ASUS VG248QE display to PC Perspective readers. Part of the deal though was that those winners agree to give us feedback on the upgrade experience and the real-world experience of using NVIDIA G-Sync on their gaming rig. Below is the (slightly edited) results sent in by one Levi Kendall. We'll likely post other users' results as well when the start to filter in.

So, if you are curious what it will be like to upgrade and use your own G-Sync monitor, I think the experiences described by Levi below are going to be very interesting.

This was a fairly serious product mod, actually more than I thought it was going to be. Overall, the installation took more than an hour, so not exactly trivial for me. I suppose it's possible to get it done in 30 minutes if you were really focused and knew what you were doing. I put the LVDS connector on wrong the first time (connectors had to be rotated 180 degrees) so I had to retrace my steps for a bit to get it fixed after I realized it was put on incorrectly and the metal plate was on the wrong side. The manual does actually point this out in a couple steps but it was a little confusing to think of that rotation change. Also, during installation I opted to remove the somewhat useless monitor speakers (that nobody probably uses anyway). It's definitely something a PC hobbyist can do, but count on spending some time carefully removing a lot of small cables inside the monitor and doing it right. Part of my slow approach was caution at damaging any components; I've never been inside an LCD display until now.

Installation Step 1

First impressions:

The OSD settings through the monitor buttons are greatly reduced (fortunately simplified) after the mod. It's not really an issue since it looks amazing, but the display controls seem to be basically just a brightness option +/- now. I'm happy with the gamma particularly in dark levels as I don't feel like I have to fool with it now and the ASUS OSD was a bit clunky to work with anyway. The various display "modes" of the VG248QE weren't something I really used much before, just got it to the point it looked nice to me and left it alone. The monitor also powers up nearly instantly as opposed to the delay of showing the animated ASUS logo which is nice.

Installation Step 2

For more detailed display setting tweaks I downloaded a free utility called “softMCCS” and this has allowed me to access things like the detailed color settings and contrast. This software seems a little buggy but overall it does work at least. Unfortunately NVIDIA did not provide any official MCCS software utility in the package.

Game play testing:

In games where the frame rate was already consistently 144+ it's hard to say precisely where the difference is. The VG248QE was already a beastly fast gaming monitor to start from. It feels to me like the latency might have gone down a little bit with G-Sync, everything does feel a bit more responsive and caught up very close with player inputs. Where G-Sync becomes more noticeable to me is in games where the frame rate is dropping somewhere below the magical 144 mark and you see this kind of graceful degradation in performance and game play remains very fluid even when the action ramps up and you are in a lower FPS situation.

We have our winners!! Congratulations to the following 5 submissions and we'll have the upgrade kits on the way to you very soon.

Lewis C.

Levi K.

Jonathan F.

John G.

Ben L.

I know that LOTS of you have been clamoring for information on how you can get your hands on one of those DIY G-Sync upgrade kits for yourself and I have some good news. Though I can't tell you where to buy one or how much it will cost, I can offer you 1 of 5 FREE G-Sync upgrade kits through a giveaway we are hosting at PC Perspective!

Here are the rules for the sweepstakes:

You must already own an ASUS VG248QE monitor

We need you to supply feedback on the G-Sync experience after the upgrade

Sorry, this is only available in the US and Canada

Now, the real question is, how can you enter to win as long as you meet those above requirements? It's pretty simple!

Those people selling the displays? Digital Storm, Falcon Northwest, Maingear, and Overlord Computer. This creates some unfortunate requirements on potential buyers. For example, Falcon Northwest is only selling the panels to users that either are buying a new Falcon PC or already own a Falcon custom system. Digital Storm on the other hand WILL sell the monitor on its own or allow you to send in your VG248QE monitor to have the upgrade service done for you. The monitor alone will sell for $499 while the upgrade price (with module included) is $299.

This distribution model for G-Sync technology likely isn't what users wanted or expected. After all, we were promised upgrade kits for users of that specific ASUS VG248QE display and we still do not have data on how NVIDIA plans to sell them or distribute them. Being able to purchase the display from these resellers above is at least SOMETHING before the holiday, but it really isn't the way we would like to see G-Sync showcased. NVIDIA needs to get these products in the hands of gamers sooner rather than later.

NVIDIA also prepared a new video to showcase G-Sync. Unlike other marketing videos this one wasn't placed on YouTube as the ability for it to run at a fixed 60 FPS is a strict requirement, something that YouTube can't do or can't do reliably. For this video's demonstration to work correctly you need set your display to a 60 Hz refresh rate and you should use a video player capable of maintaining the static 60 FPS content decoding.

One of the selling points of Dell UltraSharp monitors is its color gamut. It is not too difficult to find a monitor with 100% sRGB coverage, but AdobeRGB is quite larger; the UP2414Q claims to be able to reproduce 99% of it. This means that, if properly calibrated, the monitor can reach "further colors" instead of approximating them. Specifically, 100% Adobe RGB is roughly the gamut possible with color printers.

Not much else is known about this display. It does not have a price. It does not have a release date. It does not even have an official announcement date. They do claim to calibrate the monitors before they leave the factory so that is some other information, I guess. It has four USB 3.0 ports and a 6-in-1 card reader.

But I can imagine the biggest omission for our audience is: there is no official announcement about refresh rates. Ian Cutress down at Anandtech assumes, based on the Dell UltraSharp 32" UP3214Q monitor, it will support 60Hz only using two DisplayPort 1.2a connectors in MST; otherwise, 4K will be limited to 30Hz.

AOC's G2460PQU is a 24" 1080p display at 144Hz which should give you a smoother experience when gaming. It supports DVI-D, DSUB, HDMI and DisplayPort and has four USB ports on the sides including a power boosted one for recharging. The overall look is rather nice but the power button is oddly placed on the underside alongside the inputs. eTeknix tried out this display and you can see what they thought in their full review.

"Recently I took a look at one of these new 144Hz panels from AOC, namely the G2460PQU and on the whole I was impressed with the quality of the build and the feature set on offer, but most importantly, the difference that the faster refresh rate made to not only game play but also during day-to-day usage."

UPDATE: If you missed our live stream today that covered NVIDIA G-Sync technology, you can watch the replay embedded below. NVIDIA's Tom Petersen stops by to talk about G-Sync in both high level and granular detail while showing off some demonstrations of why G-Sync is so important. Enjoy!!

Last week NVIDIA hosted press and developers in Montreal to discuss a couple of new technologies, the most impressive of which was NVIDIA G-Sync, a new monitor solution that looks to solve the eternal debate of smoothness against latency. If you haven't read about G-Sync and how impressive it was when first tested on Friday, you should check out my initial write up, NVIDIA G-Sync: Death of the Refresh Rate, that not only does that, but dives into the reason the technology shift was necessary in the first place.

G-Sync essentially functions by altering and controlling the vBlank signal sent to the monitor. In a normal configuration, vBlank is a combination of the combination of the vertical front and back porch and the necessary sync time. That timing is set a fixed stepping that determines the effective refresh rate of the monitor; 60 Hz, 120 Hz, etc. What NVIDIA will now do in the driver and firmware is lengthen or shorten the vBlank signal as desired and will send it when one of two criteria is met.

A new frame has completed rendering and has been copied to the front buffer. Sending vBlank at this time will tell the screen grab data from the card and display it immediately.

A substantial amount of time has passed and the currently displayed image needs to be refreshed to avoid brightness variation.

In current display timing setups, the submission of the vBlank signal has been completely independent from the rendering pipeline. The result was varying frame latency and either horizontal tearing or fixed refresh frame rates. With NVIDIA G-Sync creating an intelligent connection between rendering and frame updating, the display of PC games is fundamentally changed.

But it is definitely a complicated technology and I have already seen a lot of confusion about it in our comment threads on PC Perspective. To help the community get a better grasp and to offer them an opportunity to ask some questions, NVIDIA's Tom Petersen is stopping by our offices on Monday afternoon where he will run through some demonstrations and take questions from the live streaming audience.

NVIDIA G-Sync Live Stream

11am PT / 2pm ET - October 21st

We also want your questions!! The easiest way to get them answered is to leave them for us here in the comments of this post. That will give us time to filter through the questions and get the answers you need from Tom. We'll take questions via the live chat and via Twitter (follow me @ryanshrout) during the event but often time there is a lot of noise to deal with.

Hardware Canucks have been thoroughly enjoying themselves with the new Dell 30" display, the UltraSharp U3014. The 2560x1600 display might be expensive but if you can afford the asking price it will not disappoint. If you look very carefully during fast paced action you might see a hint of ghosting but not enough to distract you from your game. Professionals will appreciate the 10-bit colour capability and the numerous colour settings will help you while creating content. Take a look at the full review here.

"Dell's new flagship monitor, the UltraSharp U3014 is everything we could possibly want. It uses a 16:10 AH-IPS panel, boasts one of the best color rendition scores around and simply outpaces nearly everything else out there."

HDTVs have an aspect ratio, the proportion between width and height, of 16:9. This, more noticeably rectangular, format was seen as a suitable compromise between 4:3 tradition and the many widths of theatrical releases. Computers, high resolution since the 90s (give-or-take) to fit more stuff on screen, first adopted many HD innovations.

Widescreen, however, was firmly resisted. Internet video was not popular or even known to the general public. Vista, with its sidebar optimizations, was expected to make 16:10 tolerable. 16:9 was too wide to even be considered an effective option for documents and websites.

I must say: I don't know how I'd live without Sidebar making my monitor feel wastefully narrow and...

... normal.

Now that the public is comfortable with 16:9, because at some point it ceased to be scary for display manufacturers, some are experimenting with even wider niches. 2560x1080 has about a third more width than a "FullHD" panel to add another side-by-side-by-side document to edit or snapped website to refer to. At this point, if people want to buy it, do it.

LG, at IFA 2013, unveiled their V960 all-in-one (AIO) desktop. This computer is housed inside a 29" 21:9 (technically 64:27, but those numbers are big and scary) IPS display. Despite lacking a touchscreen, and despite OSX screenshots for its also announced plain monitors in its promo image, the AIO comes with Windows 8 pre-installed. It houses a mobile GeForce GT 640M GPU and... well that is about all we know of its internals.

The company believes that you might use some screen width for picture-in-picture TV browsing. LG is not too clear on what functionality will be available to the V960. Other monitors in the line contain a TV tuner, but they never specified whether the AIO would have a tuner or just an HDMI input. Also unclear, whether video inputs are accessible to the computer for DVR functionality or whether it is delivered straight to the display.

The LG V960 was on display at IFA 2013. No pricing and availability information has been announced by LG.

Hardware.info had a chance to review 14 different 2560x1440 displays of which all but three they could find for sale; prices ranged from $500 to $950. That price range is interesting as all of the displays reviewed were 27" models, so the disparity is not caused by larger screens. Gamers may want to head straight to their findings on Response Time and Input Lag but you should spend the time to read the whole round up if you are more interested in the colour accuracy.

"Most IT product categories tend to evolve rapidly, but developments in computer monitors have been decidedly slower. Although larger screens are slowly becoming more affordable, the most common resolution remains 1920x1080 pixels. Nonetheless, this year we're seeing more and more manufacturers release WQHD monitors. Hardware.Info collected 14 different models of these very impressive monitors and tested them to find out which is the best one to get."

The Lenovo ThinkVision LT3053p is an 30" IPS LED backlit display with a 2560×1600 resolution and a hefty price tag of around $1500. For that price you do get some interesting input choices including a mobile high definition link port, which looks like an HDMI input except for the MHL label as well as both DisplayPort 1.2 in and an DP 1.2 out to allow you to daisy chain another monitor to the Lenovo. As well a single USB 2.0 and four USB 3.0 ports were installed, including a dedicated charging port like is seen on many laptops now on the market. For professionals this monitor is able to display 30bit colour and 99% Adobe RGB gamut. Benchmark Reviews also demonstrated how the monitor can be split and accept sources from two different computers and have a mouse and keyboard hooked up directly so that it can act as a sort of KVM switch. The features are interesting but it is hard to get over the sticker shock.

"In the past year or so flat panel monitor prices have entered free-fall, with massive 27″ displays widely available for under $300. Given that, why would anyone even consider spending over $1,500 on a somewhat larger 30″ display? Lenovo has lent Benchmark Reviews one of their ThinkVision LT3053p units to review, so let’s see what all that extra money buys you."